1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of stretchable elastic straps and how to store them neatly and conveniently in use with the trucking industry.
2. Description of Related Art
Rubber elastic straps with hooks on either ends are well known and used in the trucking industry for securing cargo and tarps. Typically the straps are manufactured in various set lengths, for example 10 inches, 15 inches, 21 inches, 31 inches, and 41 inches. Truckers typically store a pile of straps in their truck for securing cargo and tarps. Because of the exposed hooks on the ends of the bungee cord straps the pile typically must be detangled before they can be used. Detangling a pile of straps results in lost time for truckers.
Referring to FIG. 1 in the drawings, a prior art embodiment of a typical rack for storing rubber bungee elastic straps according to the present application is illustrated. Rack 101 includes a first bar 105 and a second bar 109. As illustrated bungee cord 111 is hooked to first bar 105, wrapped over second bar 109 and then secured again to first bar 105. Rack 101 has a few inherent limitations. First, each strap has to be stretched individually to be attached to rack 101 and detached from rack 101. Because truckers typically use approximately one hundred elastic straps with a single load of cargo the time to stretch and un-stretch so many bungee codes becomes prohibitive. Second, much like the pile of straps described above, rack 101 doesn't organize the elastic straps. While there are many ways to store elastic straps known in the art, considerable room for improvement remains.
While the assembly and method of the present application is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present application as defined by the appended claims.